Drum sticks come in various woods, sizes, and tip materials suited for different musical styles. The manufacturing process begins with selecting and drying wood, then precisely shaping sticks on grinding wheels or lathes. Sticks undergo multiple inspections and are sorted by parameters like weight, pitch, and finish before packaging. Major drum stick manufacturers include Vic Firth, Pro Mark, Zildjian, and Vater, each offering standard sticks plus unique designs.

1. MUS 420
Music Products Seminar
Dr. Sandy Schaefer
Drum Sticks

2. Introduction
 The basic accessory every drummer
needs.
 Materials: various woods (maple, hickory,
oak, persimmon), carbon fiber, plastic,
fiberglass, metal
 Sizes: length, diameter, taper, tip shape,
tip material.

3. Parts of the Stick

4. Stick Types
 Different sticks for different uses.
 Concert style - heavier, some prefer
round tips. Most prefer wood tips. Enough
flex in taper to roll smoothly.
 Rock - heavier than jazz sticks, some use
concert sizes. Usually nylon tips and
thicker neck for durability. Recording
drummers usually prefer wood tips

5. Stick Types
 Jazz - lighter than rock, good taper for
flex (good bounce off the cymbal). Most
prefer wood tips
 Marching - heaviest stick (promotes open
rolls). Usually wood tips.

6. Woods
 Rock Maple - lighter, good flex and rebound.
10% lighter than hickory
 Sugar Maple
 American Hickory - heavier, more durable SP .
82 @ 15% moisture
 Japanese shira kashi white oak, SP .90 @ 15%
moisture, 10% heavier than hickory
 Persimmon - beautiful finish

7. Other Materials
 Metal - Ahead Sticks
 Graphite - Aquarian
 Light & glows - Hip Trix, Powerstix

8. Tips
 Shape controls contact area. Contact area
controls overtones. Small contact=higher,
larger=lower
ball
oval
teardrop
acorn

9. Tips cont.
 NylonTips - originally designed for rock
drummers, durability. Harder surface
means higher overtones (brittle sound)
 Wood Tips -= warmer sound, less highs,
damaged by cymbals

10. Stick Sizes
 Sticks identified by number/letter
combination
 Common sizes: 2A, 2B, 5A, 5B, 7A, 8D,
2S. Lower number = larger diameter.
B= band, A=orchestra, S= marching
(street), D= dance band.
 No real standardization between brands

11. Stick Sizes
 Example Vic Firth
 7A - 15.5”, .540” dia. (Zildjian .525”)
 8D - 16”, .540’
 5A - 16”, .565” (Zildjian .560”)
 5B - 16”, .595” (Zildjian .600”)
 2B - 16.25”, .630”
 Rock - 16 5/8”, .630”

12. Stick Grips
 Some drummers have stick slippage
problems.
 Some sticks have roughened area or
plastic grip to help
 Gorilla Snot applies to the stick
 Zildjian has a Dip series with plastic
coating.

13. Stick Sizes
 Artist
Models - famous drummers
assemble their favorite from the variety of
length, diameter, tip, & woods

14. Selecting Sticks
 Roll on counter to check for warping. The
tip will wobble on a warped stick. Put the
good ones in a pile
 Weigh/balance sticks using the same
hand. Sort similar sticks.
 Check pitch on counter or using the clave
technique

15. Combination Sticks
 To
facilitate some concert situations sticks
sometimes have mallets at the other end.

16. Manufacturing Process: Vic
Firth (Newport, Maine)
 Wood cut 1” squares and kiln dried for 2
weeks. 50% of fresh cut wood’s weight is
water. Drying contracts & hardens wood.
Improperly dried wood sticks warp.
(Sawdust & shavings fire the kiln)
 Vater uses a vacuum process (24 hrs.)

17. Process cont.
 Pro-Markhas additional “Millennium II”
process. It strengthens the wood, adds
resonance, reduces warping.

18. Process cont.
 After reaching desired moisture content
Wooden squares placed in doweling
machine
 wood dowels inspected and graded into
several categories, (color, grain
straightness, mineral streaks, blemishes
and structural defects). Best grain pattern
used for the tip end. Length is cut.

19. Process cont.
 Stick shaped with grinding wheel. Two-
step process (butt then tip).
 Each model has a different grinding wheel
and steel template (.001” accuracy).
 Grinding done underwater to keep stick
from burning (water is filtered & recycled)
 Pro-Mark uses high speed lathe, doesn’t
heat the wood as much

20. Process cont.
 Timpani sticks and bass drum beaters and
lathed, sanded, & varnished.
 Sticks with complex shaped on Computer
Numerical Control lathe.
 Sticks put in tumbler to add the finish.
 Pro-Mark has non-toxic finish, sticks less
sensitive to moisture changes
 Another inspection, Pro-Mark has 7 inspections
 Logo stamped

21. Process cont.
 Inspected for straightness by infrared
fiber optic sensor.
 Sticks sorted by weighed
 Sticks sorted by tone, struck with
hammer, & frequency analyzed by
computer
 Pro-Mark sorts by weight and pitch also.

22. Process cont
 Sticksmatched by color, placed in
package, bar coded, wrapped in bricks of
12 pair, and shipped.

23. Brushes
 Originally were “fly whisks” used for softer
playing.
 Classic brushes are thin metal wires in a
rubber coated handle. The wires retract
into the handle.
 Today some brushes are made of plastic
wires.

24. Brushes

25. Rute/Rods
 A bundle of wooden dowels in a plastic/
rubber handle. Dowels in various
thickness’. Softer than sticks/louder than
brushes

26. Manufacturers
 http://home.iae.nl/users/nuenen/
trademarks_drumsticks.htm lists 90
brands
 Drum manufacturers once marketed
their own brand of sticks
 Now stick specialists control the market

27. Manufacturers
 Retail stores can their own brand of
sticks
 Vic Firth -(vicfirth.com) timpanist Boston
Symphony, began making timpani sticks,
expanded line. Has complete line of
sticks, mallets, beaters, practice pads,
stick bags, and wearables.

28. Manufacturers
 Pro Mark - (promark.com) Houston TX
1957. Oak, Hickory, and oak. 50% of oak
sticks made in Japan. Also concert
percussion sticks, practice pads, etc.

29. Manufacturers
 Zildjian
- the country’s oldest cymbal
manufacture moved into drums sticks in
1988. Has a standard stick line plus anti
vibration sticks, coated sticks, and
roughened grip sticks.

30. Manufacturers
 Vater (vater.com). Started in 1940s, hand
made sticks out of his music store
 American Drum - family owned, started
with marimba mallets

31. Manufacturers
 Cooperman - (cooperman.com) makes
rope tensioned drums for drum & fife
corps. Sticks are persimmon wood

32. Manufacturers
 Ahead (bigbangdist.com), alloy sticks,
with replaceable plastic sleeve and plastic
tips. Unbreakable

33. Manufacturers
 Aquarian
(aquariandrumheads.com).
Graphite sticks & power sleeve

34. Manufacturers
 Square Beat - (squarebeatsticks.com),
yep, another spin on an old idea.
 Trueline - (trueline.com) unique designs

35. Manufacturers
 Hip Trix - (hiptrix.com) glow in the dark
sticks. No batteries, luminescent

36. Manufacturers
 Powerstix
- (powerstix.com), multi-colored
LED lights inside a polycarbonate stick